A commander of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Tuesday, PTI quoted a police official as saying.

The commander, identified as Tulsi Bhuinya, was killed during a joint operation by the Jharkhand Jaguar, a special task force aimed at combating Maoists, and the Palamu Police.

The gunfight started early in the morning on Tuesday, The Hindu quoted Jharkhand Police Spokesperson and Inspector General (Operation) Amol V Homkar as saying.

Another Maoist leader Nitesh Yadav, who carries a reward of Rs 15 lakh, was also reportedly among those shot during the gunfight, Homkar told The Hindu. He said the joint operation was launched on Tuesday following intelligence inputs about Yadav and his associates being present in the area.

After the gunfight, the security forces cordoned the area and are conducting a combing operation, the police added.

On Monday, Maoist leader Manish Yadav, carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh, was killed in a gunfight by Jharkhand’s Latehar police. Another Maoist leader Kundan Singh Karwar, carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh was arrested.

On Saturday, Pappu Lohra, the chief of the Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad, a splinter group of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and his associate Prabhat Ghanju were killed during a gunfight in Latehar district.

On Friday, four suspected Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district along the Chhattisgarh border.

On May 21, 27 suspected Maoists – including Nambala Keshav Rao, who was the leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) – were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district.

With this, about 190 suspected Maoists have been killed in gunfights with security personnel this year. In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces.

Malini Subramaniam has reported for Scroll that while many of those killed in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh in 2024 were declared by the police to be reward-carrying Maoists, several families dispute the claim. The families claim that the persons killed were civilians.

The Union government has repeatedly vowed to eradicate “Left Wing Extremism” in the country by March 31, 2026.